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This post was submitted by my brother Ed. Sorry Ed that it took so long for me to find it and post it. It reads well. The ability to write must run in the family.My brother Dick called a few weeks back while he was in dry dock requesting assistance with the diesel motor replacement. My pal Steve, a diesel mechanic, accompanied me on the trip to Fort Pierce. We usually only go down that way only for Jai-Alai games, but I looked forward to the trip as that's a nice, quiet part of Florida. Few
*undiscovered* coastal areas remain here in Florida; Fort Pierce being one of them. Developers are trying to turn Florida's coast into one big long
Last Vegas strip !
Unfortunately the drive wasn't without incident as Steve lost many expensive tools out of an open tailgate. Dick mentioned this in an earlier blog entry. But we made it there in an hour or so, and Dick directed us to the boat.
Boats out of water, like motorcycles with the tires removed, or other
work-in-progress, spark a discord in my soul. It's disconcerting to me to see things THAT out of place; engine
disassembled, boat steadied on land. If you're
musical then you know that you want the harmony to eventually resolve to the tonic, or perhaps a 3rd. A boat out of water is like the song hanging on the 7th -
drives you crazy! RESOLVE! GET THIS BACK BOAT IN THE WATER ! :)
But at the same time Dick instilled confidence that he knew what he was doing, he was determined, and was managing the project well.
I'd never seen the boat [1] out of water. It's VERY TALL! Sort of awe-inspiring as it towers well above the ground, particularly when Dick recited the specs on the weight and displacement of the hull. VERY impressive indeed! This was no sunfish that's for sure!
Serious boaters only need apply :)We climbed a 16' ladder to reach the top deck and stepped aboard. We were WAY up the air. Luckily it was below my threshold for fear of high edges to kick in [2]. To be safe though I didn't allow others to get close to me near the edge anyhow! Look at the photo of these guys on bikes by photographer Victor Lucas:
[editor's note, the photo didn't work]
If that was me,
I would be shaking so badly I'd drive RIGHT OFF THE EDGE!
Our dad blessed Dick and I with many skills; perhaps the most significant being an unbridled confidence in disassembling mechanics of which we have little knowledge. I believe it's also what makes us good engineers and scientists, as we have a propensity to take things apart and to know what makes things tick. Sometimes it's a
proclivity!
The boat's prop was begging to be disassembled- a most intriguing mechanism indeed! When turned clockwise, the prop blades went into a certain fixed position, and when reversed, they rotated to a new, fixed pitch. Dick
explained that this had to do with forward/reverse blade angles, but as often happens to me when discussing things nautical with Dick, I didn't get it. Even though I eventually caught up to Dick in education, I've always believed his
knowledge of engineering principals surpassed me and most other engineers for that matter. I nodded blind acceptance of his explanation.
Also, the prop was a curious combination of metals, some sacrificial, with strange hex-head screws, each with it's own cotter-pin, and a mysterious way it all was held together on the end of the shaft. This thing was right out of
Harry Potter!In traditional
Mills fashion, we charged in and started removing pins and screws, eventually revealing a set of internal
gears. I think they are called orbital gears. Amazing people design these things! Dick carefully placed the parts in a toolbox. I recommended he get one of those magnetic part trays. Those of you with Dick on your Christmas list- listen up!
[Editor's note: sorry, I don't allow magnetic things on the boat; they might cause my compass to be off]Turns out the real challenge was getting the assembly off of the shaft. Dick climbed up and loosened the rudder- a metal behemoth that was preventing us from removing the prop assembly. No help- it was still in the way. While I was there, we never DID get the prop removed, but Dick reported later that he figured it out after we'd left. Some problems are best
left alone for awhile, and revisited with a fresh perspective.
We finished up the day with a delightful meal prepared by Libby and Sally, and walk on the beach. I even got a nice big piece of driftwood as a souvenir, which is now next to our pool. We got Dick a little further along on the project, and happily, as he reported here, the engine replacement went very well. We we're glad to have been a small part of what was a huge undertaking!
April 9th 2007,
Brother Ed [3]
[1] - You may observe that I never say Dick's boat's name. That's because I don't know how to spell it, (or even pronounce it, nor do I know what it means) so to be safe I call it "the boat" or something along those lines. Simplistically, my motorcycle is named
Christine after a movie some of you may recognize.
[2]
Acrophobia, Altophobia, Batophobia, Hypsiphobia or Hyposophobia: I, like most people, have a fear of HIGH EDGES, not heights. Most of us are not overly concerned being 5 miles up in an airplane, but looking over the rail at Niagra falls- I can only do that if no people are near me. I suppose more precisely then , I actually have an irrational fear of "being pushed off the edge!"
[3] I am Dick's younger brother. I shamelessly copied much of Dick's life, even going into the same profession, engineering. Although I don't share his love of sailing, I do love the enthusiasm and vitality that the sailing creates in Dick and Libby. I believe they'll stay forever-young as long as they sail- they HAVE TO! I reside on the east coast of Florida near Melbourne with my lovely wife Sally, a devilish doberman named Dixie, 2 lazy fat cats, and our adult-children not too far away. We like this new travel pattern Dick and Libby have adopted of wintering in Florida, as we get to see them every year. Our family is dispersed all over the world, and we've lost many dear family members, so we treasure every moment we're together. We're hoping this travel pattern continues indefinitely!
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